question on egg laying without male involvement.

[dizzy]

It's called parthenogenesis and yes, it's been documented in pythons.

http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v9.../6800210a.html

The eggs are not necessarily infertile, they can be clones of mom.


~Kat

Cloning occurs in nature? That's INSANE!

To the OP: I knew exactly what you meant when I read the title and said to myself: "I've wondered that too! My duck used to lay eggs and she wasn't near any males since she was about a month old." I'm actually pretty suprised to get such a concrete answer.

Thanks Jane! Although my head came Thiiiiis close to exploding while reading that.

[RandyRemington]

Too bad the policies of that European zoo wouldn't let them hatch any of those eggs.

I've heard novice pet keepers report eggs several times from females they claim where never with males. I've encouraged them to try incubating but have never heard a report back of any hatchlings.

As genetic testing becomes more available and cheaper perhaps we'll discover parthenogenesis in ball pythons.

[mainbutter]

python jesus.

[Jodi L]

Hi all - I just joined this site/forum to ask all you python owners about what to do when this very thing happens…and yes, it happens!

I have an old (24-ish) female ball python and I believe it was 3 years ago when I was surprised to find her hugging a clutch of eggs. I only had the snake for a year maybe, and was told she was a 'he' when I inherited her from another family member. She was never with another snake, and had about 7 eggs. Kinda freaked me out, actually. I didn't think in any way the eggs would be fertile or have any clone snakes, so I discarded them (I felt bad about that, too).

So now here we are again, 2014, a few years older and she is displaying all the same signs that she is about to do this again, and again without any other snake involvement. Once is strange, but twice? Come on… She's plump, has bulging around the vent, didn't eat the last rat that was fed (and took an hour to eat the last one in January), and she barely fits under her hide-out.

I don't really want to experiment here, but since this original post, has anyone else experienced this and did anyone attempt to incubate? Anything happen? I didn't know that these could be clones, I just assumed like chickens, they would just be eggs. I'll check back in couple days for any advice. thanks!

[Nravin65]

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!! I can confirm that a ball python can indeed produce eggs without a male. I have just found 9 eggs in with my ball python and she has never been around a male ball python in the 24 years that I've had her and we got her when she was only a few months old. She did have a house mate for a about 8 years when she was younger but it was a Red Tail boia and he died 10 years ago. We did a flashlight look at the eggs and it appears 7 of the eggs do have veins running through them but we can't be sure the eggs are viable for a few weeks.

[MarkS]

This actually did happen to me sometime after I first posted this question. I did have a virgin female lay eggs. She was only a couple of years old and I thought she was too small at the time so I had never put her with a male, she certainly showed me though. Unfortunatly though they were not fertile.

[Pythonfriend]

this thread is making the rounds:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...BP-laid-6-eggs!

aparently a virgin BP produced a clutch of eggs, and most of them candle as fertile, with veins. im sure the thread will be updated if something hatches.

EDIT: i would not throw away the eggs. just candle them. yellow glow = infertile, pink glow or visible veins = fertile.

[Nravin65]

Since I don't breed snakes and never expected eggs from parthenogenesis I have given them to someone I work with who breeds snakes. I will let you know if any of them hatch as I wouldn't mind have a clone of the mother. If there are a few I will try to get my daughter to take one with in to Veternary School in August for possilbe parthenogenesis testing.

[Pythonfriend]

Since I don't breed snakes and never expected eggs from parthenogenesis I have given them to someone I work with who breeds snakes. I will let you know if any of them hatch as I wouldn't mind have a clone of the mother. If there are a few I will try to get my daughter to take one with in to Veternary School in August for possilbe parthenogenesis testing.

i think you need to test two snakes, the mother and one of the offspring, and compare their genetic code. but for that you just need a DNA sample, not the snake as a whole.

getting it tested / verified is a really great idea.

[ROACH]

OK....My Pastel girl has just laid eggs today and has NEVER been with a male! I have had her since she was 2 months old and has never been mated. I haven't candled them yet since I just saw them about 15 minutes ago. This is freaking me out!